Hezbollah targeted Mossad HQ in Tel Aviv
...with Qader 1 ballistic missile, while Israel keeps carpet-bombing Lebanon.
Note to readers: the article exceeds the length limits of the e-mail. To read it in its entirety, just click on the title to open the full online version.
The situation in the Middle East is escalating exponentially and so quickly that it is getting quite difficult to keep pace with all the developments in the space of one day, especially if you also have a completely unrelated full-time job, as I do, so apologies for multiple long articles in the space of a few days.
First of all, I would like to recommend reading Simplicius The Thinker’s latest article (see link below), whose first part focuses on the recent developments in the Middle East, while the rest deals with the Russo-Ukrainian war: it’s a good read, as it covers a few events that I have missed, such as a US Navy oiler running aground near Oman… actually “the sole US Navy oiler currently operating in the Middle East”, as reported also by Al Mayadeen. OUCH! This will give a headache to the “mighty” US Navy in the region.
Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose country has suffered a civil war started by the Outlaw US Empire to oust him (see this Wikipedia article or this article by The Hill), has offered help to Lebanon, saying (source: Al Mayadeen):
Our primary focus now is to stand with our brothers in Lebanon in all areas without exception or hesitation.
It’s “funny” to see a war-torn country offering help to another, while western countries are only thinking of repatriating their citizens from Lebanon… and keeping arming Israel to the teeth! But let’s not digress, as there is a lot to cover.
Last night, while the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon (Hezbollah) launched a volley of Fadi-1 rockets at the Ilaniya Base (affiliated with the 146th Reserve Division, part of the Northern Command) in Israel “in support of Gaza and defense of Lebanon and its people” (source: Al Mayadeen), the Islamic Resistance in Iraq attacked the Israeli Ramon Airbase near the Jordan Valley using drones and another target “with an al-Arqab missile (a developed cruise missile)”, as reported by Al Mayadeen, which included footage of the impact site of the Iraqi drones at the Ramon Airbase.
However, at the same time, Little Satan was carpet-bombing Lebanon, with Al Mayadeen reporting airstrikes in “the city of Baalbek, Douris, Jamaliyeh, Brital, al-Khader, Amhaz, Shaath Junction, Nahleh Road, Hawsh al-Rafiqa, Rayak, Sahla Sarein, and al-Labweh”, all “in the Bekaa Valley, located in the eastern part of the country”. But, coming to the title of this article, Little Satan did not expect what happened earlier this morning…
In its Short News, between 6:30 and 6:40 EEST today Al Mayadeen reported about sirens sounding in Tel Aviv (in the Gush Dan district, in particular) and Netanya and then about explosions in Sharon and Gush Dan, with Israeli media confirming these events ~1.5 hour later.
Hezbollah later confirmed that it had launched a Qader 1 ballistic surface-to-surface missile targeting the Mossad headquarters (HQ) in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, as reported in this Al Mayadeen article: it is the first time that Hezbollah has used such a missile and at such a distance since the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7th October 2023, marking a significant escalation, so significant that Netanyahu had to postpone once again his trip to New York to attend the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly). I am going to quote the aforementioned Al Mayadeen article word by word, as it is worth reading most of it (all emphasis mine):
According to the group's statement, the HQs is responsible for the assassination of Resistance leaders and the waves of pagers and walkie-talkies explosions, which killed dozens and injured thousands of people across Lebanon.
Hezbollah said the operation was "in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and their valiant and honorable resistance and in defense of Lebanon and its people."
The attack is unprecedented, as it marked the first time the Lebanese Resistance group targeted Tel Aviv suburbs with a missile, cementing "the strike for strike" and "Tel Aviv for Beirut" equation.
This comprises an extremely important message to the Israeli political, military, and intelligence leadership.
It came after the Israeli occupation military carried out repetitive aggressions on the Southern Suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, the latest of which killed six people, including Hezbollah's commander Ibrahim Mohammad Qubaisi "Hajj Abu Musa," and injured 15 in the Ghobeiri area.
Shortly after the latest development, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed his departure for the UN General Assembly in New York, his office announced.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu will leave for his speech at the UN tomorrow (Thursday), instead of tonight, and will return on Saturday night," his office said. "During the day, the prime minister will hold consultations to discuss the continuation of the attacks in Lebanon."
"A ballistic missile was launched at the center, [Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan] Nasrallah is making history this morning," Israeli media commenting on the missile attack.
For more info on the Qader-1, “a tactical short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile equipped with a maneuverable reentry vehicle (MaRV), which holds a 500 kg warhead”, with a 190 km range, please refer to this Al Mayadeen article, which includes more of its specifications as well as a nice video by Hezbollah. Here I will just highlight that…
The warhead is also capable of aerial maneuvers and can precisely strike its targets.
It is worth noting that such weapons are equipped with guidance systems and other electronics, differentiating them from Hezbollah's unguided rocket artillery weapons, such as the Katyusha and Fadi series of rockets.
Although the missile was intercepted, as reported by The Guardian, and it did not cause any casualty, this attack by Hezbollah is “an event that may turn the tables”, to quote an Al Mayadeen correspondent (Short News), an event that could restore “balance after the expansion of the Israeli aggression toward the southern suburb and Jiyeh”. In practice, Hezbollah is warning Little Satan that they have ballistic missiles capable of hitting at least as far as Tel Aviv (~100 km away from the border, i.e. there is no safe zone for Israelis, if Hezbollah can hit the capital) and that next time they may overwhelm their air defences and hit the intended target!
How can Little Satan escalate now? As of today, maybe in response to this attack, which - I repeat - did not cause any casulaty, Israel carried out an airstrike targeting “the town of Maysaara, a town in the mountains north of Beirut, the farthest north Israel has struck since the beginning of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah last year”, as reported by The Guardian. An attack which killed 3 people ad injured 9 (as per The Guardian), causing panic in the Lebanese people, who were thinking to be safe in the mountains. Sorry, not with war criminals like Netanyahu and Gallant!
Earlier today The Guardian has reported that “the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces has told troops that jets have been striking ‘to prepare the ground for your possible entry’ and also to continue hitting Hezbollah”, however the Pentagon thinks that an “Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon does not appear ‘imminent’” (source: The Guardian). So, there are conflicting reports. In any case, a ground invasion of Lebanon could turn into a blood bath for both sides, as in the 2006 Lebanon war.
However, according to Israeli media quoted by Al Mayadeen, losses inflicted by Hezbollah on Israel in only 2 days amount to ~4 billion shekels ($1.07 billion): just the airstrikes on Lebanon on Monday costed ~650 million shekels ($173 million), according to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (KAN). And a reporter from Army Radio was quoted as saying:
There is no single area in Israel outside the combat zone during the past 24 hours, from Mount Hermon to the Arava Valley.
Even the Economist (paywalled), cited in another Al Mayadeen article (which I recommend reading), has reported a “nightmare scenario” for the Israeli economy - I will quote a few snippets (all emphasis mine):
A war-time economy is precarious, requiring a government to finance its military, usually through deficit spending, while maintaining enough economic strength to manage post-war debts, the report added.
However, the most alarming scenario today facing the occupation entity is that the war would extend into its key commercial centers, including Tel Aviv. Even a more limited military escalation in the northern regions could push the Israeli economy to the brink, it warned.
[…]
Adding to these challenges, Israeli banks are facing a substantial outflow of capital, as investors seek to move their funds abroad.
The three largest banks in "Israel" have reported a sharp increase in the number of clients requesting to transfer their savings abroad.
This development has heightened concerns among the entity's economic policymakers, who are now more worried than they were at the outset of the war.
Even the Israeli Finance Minister is offering a gloomy outlook, “We are in the longest and most expensive war in Israel’s history.”
"Previous conflicts have ended in economic disaster for Israel. Do not be surprised if this one does, too," the report concluded.
Yes, this conflict may end in “economic disaster for Israel” (which I was already forecasting in my previous article just with the rocking of Haifa by Hezbollah)… and possibly (hopefully) not just economic!
It is also worth reporting from Iran as well, since this morning Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, gave “a speech to a group of early defenders of the Islamic Revolution and the Resistance”, stating:
Hezbollah is victorious until today, and the final victory definitely belongs to the Resistance front and Hezbollah's front.
Hezbollah in Lebanon is fighting in the path of God in its uprising in support of Gaza, and that is why it is being subjected to [all this aggression].
Assassinations will not let Hezbollah, budge and inch as it has enough steadfastness to remain unaffected by such strikes
Were the Zionist entity capable of defeating the Resistance in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, it wouldn’t have resorted to massacring civilians in front of the entire world.
…as reported by Al Mayadeen (see also this IRNA article for a more extensive report), which, in its Short News, also quoted the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayyed Hassan Khomeini, as saying:
I declare my readiness to provide any service in defense of Islam and on the path of Jihad against the Zionist entity.
Some people, including Simplicius The Thinker, are being sceptical about Iran’s position and wondering why it is not entering the fray (read this IRNA article on the topic). Well… I think that’s what Little Satan wants, so that it can call its bigger brother, Great Satan (a.k.a. the Outlaw US Empire), as much as Zelensky’s junta in Kiev wants Russia to strike a NATO country in response to the “Kursk offensive” or other big PR stunts (e.g. drone attacks against Russian military bases and/or nuclear power plants), so that NATO can come to the rescue. Iran, which - by the way - still need to respond to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in Teheran, is probably playing safe and waiting for Israel: why entering the fray, if your enemy is already making itself a pariah state for the Rest of the World (i.e. the World minus the West) and crippling its own economy? It may come to the rescue of Hezbollah if need be, but Hezbollah is strong and it is showing its force. Plus, the UNGA may soon impose sanctions against Little Satan, as requested yesterday by Erdogan (as I mentioned near the end of my previous article), and, possibly, even freeze its UN membership or expel it altogether from the UN, as the Arab League proposed a couple of weeks ago (see the article in the link below).
Arab League is committed to freeze UN membership of Israel
Israel keeps carrying out its genocide of Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza, with latest massacre in al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, last night, as reported by the Western mainstream media (MSM) and alternative media. Looking at visual evidence (huge craters and weapon fragments), experts cited by
Meanwhile, the Outlaw US Empire keeps saying that it “is in ‘active discussions’ with Israeli officials as well as other countries to negotiate a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah”, as reported by The Guardian and Al Mayadeen, which in another article has also reported that there have been some disagreements between Little Satan and Great Satan over the strategy against Hezbollah since even before the former escalated its offensive in Lebanon. Nevertheless, earlier this evening The Guardian has quoted US State Department Matthew Miller as saying:
The US State Department has announced sanctions on one individual and four entities, as well as the blockage of nine vessels for their involvement in illicit activity that financially supports Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hezballah.
The usual buffoons, clowns, liars… and the real terrorists! You want to stop the war? Just stop the arm supply to Israel: it’s that easy!
On a final note, tonight Al Maydeen has reported that the Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched “a drone attack on a critical target in the occupied city of Umm Al-Rashrash (Eilat)”. If the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon and Iraq keep pounding all major ports of Israel (Eilat, Haifa and Tel Aviv) with rockets and drones, Little Satan has no chance to survive such a long and massive attrition war… especially without the help of its elder brother, the Great Satan, who at the moment does not seem interested in entering the fray, as much as Iran (and, to a lesser extent, Russia and China). As I may have mentioned in one of my previous articles, the Axis of Resistance is strong, even without Iran.
Actually, on a very final note, if you are interested in the story regarding the pagers rigged by Little Satan, I strongly recommend that you read this Al Mayadeen article.
UPDATE (26/09/2024): Al Mayadeen has reported that overnight at the UN Security Council (UNSC) France has called for a 21-day temporary ceasefire in Lebanon to allow time for negotiations between the warring parties, however Israeli media quoted by Al Mayadeen in its Short News reported that Netanyahu confirmed “during security consultations that negotiations will only occur under fire”, though reporting also that “Diplomatic calls are underway to reach ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah”. To be honest, I do not see much hope in these negotiations. Most likely Israel will drag these forever as it has been doing with those with Hamas in Gaza.
I have a very hard time reading this article- my heart goes out to the Palestinians and the forces fighting for them. I am utterly disgusted by the behavior of the 'west'- they have completely lost their moral compass.
" a ground invasion of Lebanon could turn into a blood bath for both sides, as in the 2006 Lebanon war."
Actually, in terms of casualties for both Hezbollah and Israel military units, it was not. Where it was a blood bath was in the Lebanese civilian casualties due to the "Dahiyah Doctrine" (if I spelled that right), i.e., the deliberate attacks on Beirut to try to turn Lebanon against Hezbollah. Which, of course, is exactly what Israel is doing right now. As Alastair Crooke has said, based on conversations with his contacts in Lebanon, it's not working.
As for the Israeli economy, I have been pointing out since 2006 that Israel absolutely can not win a war with Hezbollah without US help, and that the impact on the Israeli economy would be devastating because most of the Israeli population will be in bomb shelters 24x7 for months and the economy will evaporate. We've already seen this starting with the recent attacks on Haifa, not to mention the displacement of 60-70,000 settlers in the north, as well as the number of Israelis already fleeing the country. And of course, all the reservists not doing their day jobs while they're dying.
Where people get the US response wrong is their assumption that "the US" (aside: "who is the US. paleface", as the joke goes; the neocons running the Biden administration are the only people who count) is "reluctant" to enter the war. As I've said over and over for the last 17 years, no, they're not. What they are "reluctant" to do is be blamed for starting another Middle East war that goes south.
But that doesn't mean they won't do it. They have to do it if they want a war with China, because you can't have Iran and the rest of the Arabs selling oil to China during a war. Standard military strategy.
I cover that and much more in detail in my recent Substack articles on the conflict. I listened to Norman Finkelstein on Glenn Greenwald's Rumble show today saying the same thing I said in the title of my article: the war is inevitable.